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In both my Intro to Lit and Creative Writing classes I've been covering drama for the past two weeks, and it's been a light, bright breath of fresh air in a semester that's kind of stagnating. It means I get to show scenes from movies I love and respect (since scenes of stage plays are damn near impossible to get) and talk about how text and visual image intersect, how story is developed, how tension is created and dissipated, symbols, differences between direction and script, etc.
I've been using Lucas Hnath's Red Speedo in creative writing, which is brilliant and darkly funny -- but only one of my students really commented on its humor. I thought that was strange. (Are we so far into the semester and the joylessness of deadlines that students can't pick up on jokes?)
Anyway, Hnath's writing in that particular play has been compared to Mamet, another of my loves, and while I kinda see the comparison, I more or less used it as an excuse to bring in a hand…

This week delivered a wonderfully surprising sinus infection (yay spring! yay compromised immune system!) that made me feel as if my brain was trying to escape my head through my eye (we can't really blame my brain for wanting to leave, can we?) -- which did all sorts of inconvenient things to my productivity ... so I'm behind in almost everything: grading, festival prep, applications for conferences and grants, household/children maintenance, etc.
I do try to be conservative when it comes to taking antibiotics but after 24-hours of a headache that made it difficult to see or think, I decided to go to the doctor and ask for something. Because who has time for this? And it turns out that -- sometimes -- a good ol' blast of antibiotics to your system is just what it needs. Sometimes.
I can think again! And now that I can, and I'm facing all of this. . . stuff . . . that I'm supposed to finish by the end of the day/month/semester, I'm also thinking about the l…

I don't know if anyone was holding their breath for it, but I took last week off from the blog. The college's spring recess was last week, and while I did attend to some grading and house-cleaning I also wanted to treat those few days like the period of rest they were supposed to be, so I gave myself this little reprieve. Mostly, I just wanted to sleep a little longer in the mornings. Because sleep is lovely.
What's also lovely? Blocks of time to read. I had an amazing Sunday at the beginning of the break, so amazing it almost felt like a practical joke -- I kept waiting for something horrible to happen and undo all the good & happy of the afternoon. A. and I went to lunch sans children around noon (they were at their aunt's house hanging out with cousins) and then -- you guys -- I sat on the couch under a blanket and read for three hours. No joke, I haven't done that in YEARS. That is not hyperbole. And it is not exaggeration to say it felt quite miraculous. …

Sarah Kain Gutowski is a Professor of English at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, three children, and large, goofy dog. She is the author of Fabulous Beast (forthcoming, Texas Review Press, 2019) and Fabulous Beast: The Sow (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013). Her poetry has been published in Painted Bride Quarterly, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Verse Daily, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Epiphany, The Threepenny Review, and So to Speak: A Feminist Journal.